Over on the All About Romance List, they’re talking about returning books. As in, how often people return books, and why.
Anne Marble, AAR moderator, asks:
“Do you return books, and if so, for what reasons? And are there reasons for which you would never return a book? Is there a point where you will not return a book after reading a set amount — whether a couple of chapters or a large portion?”
I must admit, I rarely ever return books, even the crap ones. I did return a book earlier this year, but I did have a good reason. I can’t even remember the name of the book, but I’d already read it, and didn’t realise it at the time. Actually, there might have been another book that I returned, but I simply can’t remember what the book was, or why I returned it. In 2006, I can categorically say that I never returned one book, not even the stinkers.
I don’t even return books when I accidentally buy two copies. This happened with J.D. Robb’s Rapture In Death last year, I ordered a copy from Amazon, then went to Borders, saw it, and bought it there, having totally forgotten that I’d actually already bought it from Amazon. (Does anybody else ever do this?)
I can’t remember what I did with the second copy, but I certainly didn’t return it. Hmmm…I might have actually given it away on the blog.
Anyway, this comment from one of the AAR regulars bemused me somewhat:
“I returned a book once b/c I hated it. It was about 10 years ago and
money was really tight. I felt that the publishing industry “stole”
what little money I had. Now that I actually make a living wage I
wouldn’t dream of returning a book simply b/c it’s awful.”
If I could be arsed, I would totally return a book that sucked great big hairy ones, the only reason I don’t, is because I’m so damn lazy. Returning a book because it’s awful is the most sensible thing one can do methinks, otherwise, you just feel cheated.
What say you?
Anonymous
August 19
9:43 pm
Yep I do return books, but only if they are truly truly bad….. the last book I return, will not mention the author, but the whole premise did not jive, if I read something and knowing that it’s fictional and it does not ring true, I will return it and get something else, matter of fact I spend more than the return.
I did at one time feel bad about returning a book, but no not any more, they are way too expesive, for me to keep something that I did not enjoy reading, plus I will return it within 2 days of the pruchase, some time the next day.
Lisa
August 19
11:19 pm
Yes. I’ll definitely return a book if it’s defective (missing pages, cover falling off due to cheap binding… obvious things like that).
It has only happened 3 times in 20 years of book buying, but I have returned books that I’ve hated with the fiery passionate hate of a million angry souls. And yes, even if I’ve read the entire book. BUT the caveat is that if more than a week has passed, I don’t bother to return it. Many a hated book ended up in this category. They go to the used bookstores or thrift store.
Jen
August 19
11:25 pm
In my opinion, returning a book because it’s defective or because you have a duplicate copy is one thing, but returning a book because you don’t like it is another. You couldn’t refuse to pay your restaurant bill because the food wasn’t to your taste. So why should you be able to do the same with a book? If you bought it and you read it, then you’ve received the author’s services and ought to pay for it.
Sarah McCarty
August 19
11:47 pm
I’ve only ever returned one book because the pages were falling out. BEFORE I EVEN GOT TO READ IT!!
I have, however, not paid for a meal at a restaurant because it wasn’t to my taste. I doubt it would have been to anybody’s taste. The chef put a heavy amount of star anise in my gravy! It was not on the menu, the description did not say it was in there. It was supposed to be a brown herb gravy. *Shudder* I hate the taste of licorice and this was overpowering. Turns out there wasn’t a thing on the menu that night that didn’t have a star anise reduction in it, so I did not pay.
Needless to say, we have not been back again.
HelenKay
August 20
12:03 am
Can’t remember ever returning a book. I’ve even kept the sucky (in my view) ones. The double buying thing…yeah, done that more times than I want to admit and just give the copies away. Clearly need to start taking vitamins for short-term memory issues.
My view is that if I buy a book then I’m “stuck” with it in terms of not deserving to get my money back. Really, tho, this is a matter of laziness and not some morality issue.
Rosemary
August 20
12:28 am
Years back, I worked in a Waldenbooks and people definitely did return books. Company policy was we gave a refund, if returned with the receipt.
Often people would say “didn’t like it” ‘not what I expected’ ‘Found I’d already read it’ etc. etc.
kcThey didn’t always give a reason, and we didn’t ask.
But the most incredible thing was two women who’d come into the shop once a month or so, buy a dozen or more books, (mostly romance soem mystery)then come back the next month and return the lot and take out another bag of books.
In effect they were using us as a lending library. And since they returned the books with the receipt, there was nothing we could do other than follow policy and go along with it.
The cheek of it still amazes me!
·:*¨¨*:·.Mad.·:*¨¨*:·.
August 20
12:53 am
That I can remember, I’ve only returned one book. It was a couple years ago and it was a category book. I ended up calling the 800# when I got halfway through the book because 4 pages had nothing on them…the ink was sooo light, you couldn’t see the words so I called them up and they sent me a new copy. OTOH, I’m famous for ordering a book online, then completely forgetting I did and buying it when I see it at the bookstore here in town. I’m not being funny when I say that 7 of the 11 books I ordered from Amazon a couple months ago ended up being doubles because I forgot I ordered them online and ended up buying them again when I saw them at the bookstore. Those 7 books ended up being prizes in my last chat because I was too embarrassed to return them to Amazon. 🙂
avidbookreader
August 20
1:00 am
Returning books, a really controversial topic that I’ve participated in many a time over the years and my answer is still the same: yes, yes and yes, I do returns books and I don’t have to have a reason for doing so. The main reason for my returning books is because I’ve changed my mind because I’ve spent too much money. However, I don’t return books that I’ve read. Recently, B&N bookstore by my house has changed it return policy on books from 30 days to 2 weeks. I always thought 30 days was too long.
Keishon
Eve Vaughn
August 20
1:03 am
I’ve never returned a book. Up until a few years ago, I didn’t know I could because I figured if I read it I was stuck with it. Now that I know I can return books I probably won’t in the future because I’m too damn lazy to be bothered.
Ann Aguirre
August 20
1:05 am
I would never return a book because I didn’t like it. I don’t see them as warranty items. Reading is such a deeply subjective experience that I don’t expect to love everything I pick up. If I took it out of the store and read it, I got my money’s worth. Liking is beside the point.
To my mind, it’s like buying an expensive gown, wearing it once and returning it because you ‘decide you don’t like it after all.’
I would return a book in a heartbeat if it was defective in some way.
Jen
August 20
1:15 am
“Turns out there wasn’t a thing on the menu that night that didn’t have a star anise reduction in it, so I did not pay.”
I hate licorice, too, so this sounds really disgusting! But I’m assuming that you probably didn’t clean your plate before deciding not to pay. If a person hasn’t read a book, I have no issue if she decides to return it. If, however, she has read the book, I maintain it should be hers to keep.
“In effect they were using us as a lending library. And since they returned the books with the receipt, there was nothing we could do other than follow policy and go along with it.”
I worked at an Eddie Bauer in college that also had a return-with-receipt policy. One day, an older man came in to the store to return a gortex pantsuit. It was– I kid you not– 22 years old. But he still had the receipt, so we had to refund his $200. His reason for returning? It “wore out”. At the time it kind of frosted my cookies, but I suppose I have to give him credit for keeping his receipts so organized.
Kaz Augustin
August 20
3:14 am
You can return books??!! No, really. I thought you could only do that with the ones with defective bindings and whatnot. But I never thought you could return a book if you just didn’t like it. Doesn’t fly with clothing, so I thought it wouldn’t fly with books either. Live and learn.
Shelly @ Bewitched
August 20
3:47 am
When I worked for Barnes and Noble we had the “Guaranteed Read” policy where “I didn’t like it” was a valid reason for returning the book.
Personally, I only return books that are defective or that I have accidentally bought duplicates of. I’ve wanted to return lots of books that have been crappy, but that just feels wrong. And anyway, I don’t “return” them. I always end up “exchanging” the duplicates for something else on the shelves. I think it’s just about impossible for me to walk out of a bookstore empty-handed!
Anonymous
August 20
5:30 am
I’ve never returned a book for any reason other than a printing defect. I honestly never thought you could return a book because you didn’t like it. Wow! What happens to these boomerang books with their broken spines, folded pages and fingerprinted glossy covers? Do the stores return them to the publishers?
Anonymous
August 20
8:18 am
“What happens to these boomerang books with their broken spines, folded pages and fingerprinted glossy covers? Do the stores return them to the publishers?”
Yes. The publisher then takes the “returns” out of the author’s royalty. The author never sees the returns and has no way of knowing if the returns were for printing defects. All of it gets back-charged to the author.
I’m not disputing the right to return books. Publishing is a customer driven field, as it should be.
shiloh walker
August 20
11:55 am
I’ve returned a few I think, either for the book being damaged (rare) or because I saw one by a fave author and then realized it had been ‘repackaged’.
But I only do it if it’s shortly after I buy it. If more than a week has passed, I don’t mess with it.
As much as I totally hate wasting money on a book sucks, I won’t return it at that point. Hate wasting the money, but unless something really bizarre happened, like it’s packaged as romance and I get home it’s chick lit, lit fiction or something I totally hate, then I’ll just deal with it and pass it on.
Ann Bruce
August 20
1:10 pm
I’ll return books if they’re defective or if I already have a copy (I’ll make an exception to this rule for SEP, though).
I believe only once have I returned a book because I hated it and that was years ago.
And to prove my point, I have all the LKH books up to Danse Macabre in HARDCOVER still. I can’t even take them to the UBS because I have a very hard time parting with books.
azteclady
August 20
2:26 pm
Returned a book because I didn’t like it? *blink* Wow… just… wow.
I mean, a book with binding/printing issues–or one I discovered I already have read but it’s repackaged, or simply forgot I had it in my TBR pile–is one thing.
But returning a book simply because I didn’t like the story is like going to the movies, not liking the feature, and heading to the cashier’s to ask for my money back.
YMMV, of course, but I’ve always thought that buying books was a “buyers beware” kind of deal *shrug*
December/Stacia
August 20
3:05 pm
Azteclady, I worked in a movie theatre in high school and people used to do that. Not often, but it happened–we almost always refunded, especially if it was a film a lot of people asked for money back on (I think I refunded half the tickets I sold for Dark Man, for example.)
I returned a book once, because fifty pages were missing and replaced with pages from elsewhere in the book. Other than that, I don’t.
Ugh, licorice.
Jamie Craig
August 20
4:41 pm
Heh. I don’t even return my school books, and you’re expected to return those! Partly because I’m lazy. Partly because I’m a pack rat. Maybe the book will come in handy some day!
Maralyn
August 20
4:54 pm
The idea of returning books that I’ve read just because I don’t like them is plain common sense. I’d return clothes that I didn’t like so why not books. I don’t think we owe anything to the authors, if they write sucky books, then we should be able to complain by removing our money.
Amie Stuart
August 20
5:51 pm
OMG I have a girdle hanging on my bedroom door that I bought almost two months ago that still needs to be taken back to Target….color me too lazy too.
To be honest, I find myself putting books that have been sitting in my TBR pile for along time into a pile to get rid of. *sigh* It’s like clothes…if I haven’t worn it in 2 years, it’s got to go.
Anonymous
August 20
10:22 pm
Wow I posted the first comment and now I feel bad, that I did return that one book 2 months ago, but it was really really bad, oremise was good, but it was all over the place, but I would like to stress the point that if I do return a book it will be in that same week and I do not read it to the end, plus it is placed in the bag and with reciept and put in my car so it will get there and not look like I re-read it a million times.
I can honestly say that in the last five yrs I can say that I returned
about ten books……….others that were ok but I still didn’t like them I give to my sister, or will donate to the local library.
Sherry Thomas
August 20
11:24 pm
I returned Michael Crichton’s State of Fear. It was a Crichton book so it was a page-turner, but as the book went on, my hatred of it grew and grew and grew.
I hated the protagonists, all of them. I was hoping they’d be killed by the “villains”–and was sorely disappointed. I hated the ham-fisted preaching. I hated the act of cannibalism Crichton threw in at the end for shit and giggles.
Hated it.
Returned it and will never read a new Crichton, ever.
Lynne Simpson
August 21
12:08 am
I have yet to return a book because I didn’t like it. I’ll definitely return a book if pages are missing, though.
There are some books I so heartily disliked that I threw them in the trash. I just didn’t feel right about foisting them on some poor sod at the used bookstore. 🙂
Anika
August 21
12:12 am
I’ve returned a book because I didn’t like it. I bought it from Amazon and as I live in the UK I have the legal right to return goods bought via mail order within a week if I decide I no longer want them – it has to be either still in its original packaging and in a saleable condition. I don’t owe the authors anything, if its crap it is going back.
Ann Aguirre
August 21
1:16 am
“The idea of returning books that I’ve read just because I don’t like them is plain common sense. I’d return clothes that I didn’t like so why not books.”
You return clothes you don’t like … before you wear them. At least I hope so. Wearing an outfit and then returning it because one “doesn’t like it”… well, I’d call that tacky. If the clothes are still brand new and unworn, then that’s different. If buyer’s remorse strikes — by all means, take the clothes back.
By that token, you’d need to return the books in mint, pristine condition, unread, unused in order for your analogy to hold water. Otherwise, you’re using the book as a lending library, as someone else mentioned. And that smacks of tacky as well. If you don’t want to buy risky books or take a chance on new authors, go to a library. That’s why they’re there.
“I don’t owe the authors anything, if its crap it is going back.”
You try on clothes before you buy. You have a chance to evaluate them thoroughly. Same with books. Ultimately you make the decision as to what you purchase. If it turns out you made a bad call, picked up something you didn’t enjoy, how is that the author’s fault? You can read as many chapters as you want before you commit. There is no book police at Borders yelling, “Put down that novel, ma’am! According to the cameras you’re on chapter five and that’s the limit!”
Publishing professionals bought the book that wound up in the bookstore. They thought it was good enough to sell. Admittedly, reading is a subjective experience, so that can encompass a wide spread. But what is crap to you, millions of other readers might enjoy. It’s a personal thing. Sadly, we live in a culture that tries its darnedest to eliminate all accountability. If someone buys a book they don’t like, it’s the author’s fault. In this age of information, it’s surely possible for readers to find blurbs, read reviews, do some research, talk to other readers, and then check out sample chapters to get the tone of the book before deciding to buy. But why would anybody do that when one can read a book cover-to-cover, denounce it as “crap” and then get a full refund? My question is — if it was so bad, why read it? Why return it used which is such a skeevy thing to do?
Welcome to the modern age, where the motto is ‘it’s not my fault. Ever.’
Angela
August 21
2:02 am
Hell to the yes! I’ve never heard of demanding a refund for a horrible movie, but maybe it’s because I’m not a fan of movie theatres, but for a book? If the good didn’t deliver what it promised, I am perfectly free to take it back and get a refund. I think there is a disconnect between what a book is–is it a good/service? I worked in retail for years so I’ve seen crazy returns that made me steam, but I find the denial that a customer has a right to return something–anything–because its status as a commodity is shaky–fussy.
The book blurb and cover promises something to the reader. The fact that the book sits on the shelves of Borders–out of hundreds of thousands of manuscripts publishers receive–promises the reader that the book is consumer ready: wonderfully written, entertaining and emotionally fulfilling(or whatever a reader expects to get out of a book). The exact same way a consumer is promised that a plate of spaghetti at Olive Garden will be fresh, hot and delicious OR a $300 silk blouse from Nordstrom will stand the test of time, we readers are promised (by the publishers, if not an author quote) a great read when we see a book on a shelf. Isn’t that, why when we read a wallbanger we are upset and wonder how it got published? If we weren’t promised a great read, why would publishers bother with author quotes to entice readers?
If the presence of a book in a bookstore did not promise something to the consumer, we would never ever wonder how a horrible one got published because we would automatically assume any book a major publisher pushes onto us is a crapshoot. But we don’t, so a consumer has full right to return a good or service within the warranty’s or the receipt’s deadline.
azteclady
August 21
2:13 am
I’d rather be lacking in common sense if returning a book (product) after reading it (using the product) is considered common sense.
Returning clothing AFTER wearing it because I didn’t like it? As someone else said, that’s both tacky *and* smacks of the “not my fault” view of life that irks me no end.
There’s a risk inherent in buying ANYthing–how many services we pay for that, once you read the small print, you realize are “as is” [prime example: cable signal for my internet connection] The equipment (modem and physical connection, cable, etc) is covered and would be replaced if it breaks (so long as I don’t kick it out the window, obviously), but the SIGNAL? AS IS. Or, as is sometimes the case, as it ISN’T.
As far as this reader (i.e., not an author, therefore no “hidden agenda” here) is concerned, I buy the story between the covers under that SAME premise: as is. It was written, edited, bought, and published. If the *story* sucks, I take my lumps; vent to whomever recommended it (where applicable); offer my opinion about it when/if it comes up in conversation; and learn from it (i.e., no more books from that author).
Kaz Augustin
August 21
2:50 am
With yet another tangent into a parallel universe….
My cousin used to work in the Ladies Wear department at a big upscale department store during her summer vacations. She said that, every so often, she’d get a return on a really nice evening dress that would smell a bit funny. But the labels were still on and the customer would brazen their way through the transaction, so she had no choice but to refund the money.
She swears that the older staff told her that people do the following: buy an expensive dress, dress a corpse in it for the open-casket funeral ceremony, then strip it off and return it the next day. The smell is from embalming fluid, which is pretty strong.
Anonymous
August 21
2:55 am
“If someone buys a book they don’t like, it’s the author’s fault. In this age of information, it’s surely possible for readers to find blurbs, read reviews, do some research, talk to other readers, and then check out sample chapters to get the tone of the book before deciding to buy. But why would anybody do that when one can read a book cover-to-cover, denounce it as “crap” and then get a full refund? My question is — if it was so bad, why read it? Why return it used which is such a skeevy thing to do?”
I don’t think anyone is blaming it on the author, but just like movie trailers the pick the best sceens to show to the public, and when you watch or read the whole thing it’s like nothing that was promised
I’ve gotten burn by to many E-BOOKS
where the blurb said one thing you click on the excerpt and wow, even that looks promising and then you down load and the who storyline is entirely different…… and yes I will read some of the book, and I have to say that I do buy Romantic Times and some of the reviews are not up to par in my opinion, because when I do read a book based on their reviews I have to question if they read the same book.
Like I said above I’ve never read a book cocver to cover and reurned it, because as some one posted you are using the bookstore as a library and that is tacky.
My background is in retail (clothing store) and some of the customers would return the colthes reeking of parfume, wrinkles aorund the waist where you knew that it had been worn that weekend and returned that monday…..
I would always tell them no you can not return something that was used.
Anonymous
August 21
3:05 am
Kaz I know what you are talking about at one point the store where I worked at had a very strict return policy,
and as all retailers know after christmas is the very slow time, and one woman ( regular) who was known to wear and return, we could never really prove it because it was just her stinky parfume on the clothes and boy did she come into the store reeking…….well any way she tried to return this short cotten skirt that had an elastic band waist and the waist was creased and it had her long strands of hair all over it, I told her that I could not take it back because it had been used and boy was she mad…….so yes people will return clothes with stains and make up the collar and tags that had been forced back onto the clothing…….
Ann Aguirre
August 21
4:11 am
Azteclady has it exactly imo.
“we readers are promised (by the publishers, if not an author quote) a great read when we see a book on a shelf. Isn’t that, why when we read a wallbanger we are upset and wonder how it got published?”
See, that’s the thing. The authors like the book they endorse. They did. I would NOT put my name on a book I thought was crap. And I’m sure other authors feel the same. That’s my name and reputation out there (not that it means anything at this stage in my career). I wouldn’t give a blurb to something I didn’t love. However. And this is a big ‘however’, my liking does not guarantee you or any other read will love what I love. I’ve loved some crazy shit, stuff other people would throw up their hands over. I loved a dark, terrible, ugly dysfunctional romance by Pepper Espinoza called MAD WORLD, where the hero was a corrupt cop just this side of an insane vigilante and the heroine was a borderline sociopathic hooker. It was very TRUE ROMANCE. Does this mean BettyJo Perkins from Mississippi, who runs the PTA and loves Harlequin Americana books will love it too. Probably not.
It’s up to the reader to do his or her research before buying a book. And if they don’t, it’s on them. But I don’t argue their right to return books unread or partly read, as long as the book’s spine is not cracked, the cover looks new, and the pages are pristine. I disagree with the decision to return a book they read cover to cover, even though it was the worst thing ever, beat the shit out of the book, and then take it on back, because it’s their “right.” I hate that kind of entitled behavior. And it doesn’t even make sense when you think about it. Reminds me a post Ms. Viehl wrote a while back that cracked me up: The Mercy Read.
“Like I said above I’ve never read a book cocver to cover and reurned it”
Exactly my point. Just because you can, does it mean you should?
Elizabeth Kerri Mahon
August 21
5:45 pm
The book would have to be absolutely sucktastic for me to return it, and there have been books that I’ve read in the last year (without mentioning names) that I did return. And I felt terribly guilty about it.
Angela
August 23
11:30 pm
See, that’s the thing. The authors like the book they endorse. They did. I would NOT put my name on a book I thought was crap. And I’m sure other authors feel the same.
You sure about that? I think it was Jenny Crusie, but an author blogged a while ago over turning down opportunities for author quotes(even from her own friends) rather than accepting them because she didn’t feel right giving a great quote to a book she didn’t enjoy. And Mary Balogh is well-known for being very selective over endorsing another author as well. Another example is PBW’s glowing endorsement of J.R. Ward’s first book–if she had found it alright, she could have given Ward a blurb and never mentioned on her blog that she’d even read it and enjoyed it. Or what about the Christine Feehan quote on Majorie M. Liu’s first book?
You’re an author so you’re seeing it from the author’s side, but I’ve never seen anyone returning a beat-up book in my year working at Borders, and I’ve certainly never returned a beat-up book myself. And I know you’re not saying you’ve never read an entire book in the hope that it has gotten better–most people even do it with movies and TV shows. I think your stance is less on the subject of this post (the morality of returning books) and more on the attitude of entitlement, which is a whole ‘nother subject in and of itself.
Anonymous
August 24
5:08 pm
I have worked at a bookstore and had people try to return books. I say try because the excuse theyd didn’t like it was not a valid reason to return it. Broken books, wrong book with a similiar title to another, missing pages, or even one who started reading it, but didn’t finish it I would refund. Not the ones who read the whole thing and decided they didn’t like it.
Good example is this one lady who would go into the new age area and get a whole buggy full of books. She would then buy one book out of that buggy full and ask us to hold on to the others till she came back. We would do so, then she would come back a few days later demanding a return on her money as she had finished the book and it wasn’t too her liking. A few of the others would give her the refund never asking what the problem was for her to want to refund it. Then I got on the register she usually came to. I asked her if she had read the whole thing. She said yes and showed where the spine was “broken” to show it had been read and said she had taken notes on the parts that were “decent”, but wasn’t worth keeping. I asked her if she knew the difference between a bookstore and a library. She said she knew. I told her that was good because she was stuck with a book she didn’t like as we couldn’t refund her money. This was almost like a pattern for half a year until I talked the general manager into telling her we would not hold the buggy full of books (I hated having to “reshop” those book when the limit was up for her to do it again when other customers wanted them and were willing to pay for them)on hold any longer as she never bought them and other readers were asking for those books and having to wait for us to order them. The lady in question got mad at that and refused to shop with us again. She went to our competitor across the street….much to our joy. >:)
As for myself, I am too lazy to return books unless they are over $15. They have all been ones that were defects. Even then, I still have my defective Harry Potter book 7 in my closet.
Shar